Voice of a New China

CBC political commentator, Rex Murphy, made an insulting comment on the March 20 2008 edition of \'Rex Murphy\'s Point of View\' by calling the 2008 Beijing Olympics \'the thickest layer of makeup\' on \'the old face of China\'. Full transcript of his program is available on CBC website with link provided as follows (choose the title \'Boycott Beijing\'):
http://www.cbc.ca/national/archive/category.htmlrex_murphy
In his program, he compared the recent Tibet incident to the \'89 Tiananmen Square crackdown and the turbulence during the culture revolution, and called for the world to boycott the Beijing Olympics and even trades with China. He referred to today\'s China as \'an old face with a lot more money and power\'.
Rex Murphy\'s comments are extremely biased, and his take on the recent Tibet issue is based entirely on assumptions and stereotypes and lacking of factual support. More importantly, his view represents the typical Western arrogance and prejudice against the Chinese communities around the world. By calling China \'the old face\', he was portraying China once again as a primitive, backward, and uncivilized country, and Chinese people as an ignorant, easy to manipulate, and inferior race. His comment completely ignored decades of hard-work by Chinese people towards dignity and prosperity. By calling upon the world to boycott the Beijing Olympics, and even Chinese products, clearly he was trying to foment an anti-China wave. This is not a political remark, rather racial discrimination and an insult to billions of Chinese people.
As someone with Chinese blood, I personally found his comment extremely offensive and hurtful. This feature was aired on \'CBC the National\', a widely popular news program among many Canadians, which essentially put those vulnerable viewers who do not posses much knowledge about China under the influence of his personal prejudice.
I hence submit this petition to demand a formal apology from Rex Murphy and CBC to the Chinese people and CBC viewers. I sincerely ask anyone who find the same join me by signing this petition.
Cathy Qin
March 29 2008